Russians, Georgians engage in war of spin

TBILISI, Georgia — A Russian newspaper recently published what was portrayed as the seamy truth behind the conflict in Georgia: Vice President Dick Cheney helped engineer the war as a way to keep Barack Obama from getting elected.

The tortuous logic behind the claim may be hard to grasp, but the intent isn't.

The claim, made by Sergei Markov, a political analyst closely tied with the Kremlin and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, was meant to shift blame away from Moscow and lay it on an obvious target on the other side of the Atlantic. In an age when Russia tries to show itself as a democracy free from the shackles of the Soviet mind-set, it had all the markings of Kremlin propaganda.

Behind the war on the ground in Georgia, a war of spin has raged between Georgian and Russian authorities -- both of whom have been trying to justify their actions in a conflict that has thrust the volatile Caucasus region onto the world platform.

The war of words between Tbilisi and Moscow has teemed with unverified assertions, cagey denials and anger-filled rhetoric aimed at swinging empathy from the international community over to each country's side. Both sides have relied on European public relations firms to help sell their versions.

As a result, a complicated conflict with many shades of gray has been made even harder to understand by the relentless spin coming from the Kremlin and from Georgian leaders.

"From Georgian sources and reporters based in Georgian-controlled territory, the story of a relentlessly vicious Russian attack against an isolated government emerged," Hudson Institute analysts Zeyno Baran and Emmet Tuohy wrote in an article recently published on National Review Online, "only to be matched by a story emerging on the other side of the front line of a steady campaign against a barbaric, genocidal regime hoping to quietly get away with ethnic cleansing during the world's sporting holiday."

After Georgian forces shelled South Ossetia's capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 and moved in troops to try to regain control of the breakaway enclave, Russian leaders quickly began portraying the attack as "genocide" and an example of ethnic cleansing.

Russia's response was swift and harsh. For days, Russian bombing raids struck both military and civilian targets across Georgia. The Kremlin then moved tanks and troops deep into Georgian territory, and despite a cease-fire signed by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian troops and armored vehicles remained in Georgia as of Sunday evening.

'Genocide' disputed

On Russian television as well as in interviews with Western media, Kremlin leaders have repeatedly tried to justify their military actions by asserting that the conflict began when Georgian troops killed 2,000 South Ossetian civilians.

But when Human Rights Watch researchers talked to doctors at Tskhinvali Regional Hospital, they were told that most of those killed in the capital were brought to the hospital, and the toll was 44, a count that included combatants and civilians. Bodies were not taken to the city morgue because the fighting had knocked out the city's electricity.

"That's 44 too many, and clearly unacceptable," said Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. "But the Russian propaganda machine is clearly working very hard right now."

Markov's assertion, published in Izvestia, rested on the theory that Cheney, hoping to give presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain a boost against Obama, manufactured a plan to have Georgia start a conflict with Russia -- a conflict with a Cold War feel that American voters would rather have McCain handle.

"Some may read this article and call it a conspiracy theory," Markov wrote. "Yes, there is a conspiracy. It's a conspiracy by the neocons with the aim of retaining their control over the world's leading country and carrying out their plan to establish global hegemony."

Izvestia is one of Russia's most popular newspapers. Markov's theory was also picked up by other Russian media outlets.

Pointing fingers

Much of the information war has focused on who instigated the conflict. Russia has repeatedly insisted that Georgia waged its assault on South Ossetia unprovoked. "Who, after all, started military action in South Ossetia?" Medvedev said at a news conference Friday. "Was it Russian peacekeepers, Russian forces or the Georgian army?"